


Lord Bane´s Murder Mysteries - An unholy Christmas Part 2

by Katy_777



Series: Lord Bane´s Murder Mysteries [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: 1920s, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Fusion, Alternate Universe - Police, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Private Investigators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-03 16:35:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15822771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katy_777/pseuds/Katy_777
Summary: With the end of World War I, a new era was born. An era full of glitz and glamour. Life was a seemingly never-ending party. Magnus Bane is a distant relative of the royal family. He has a title, wealth, a penchant for extravagance and he never gets tired of getting himself into trouble. He´d travelled the whole world in order to see and learn new things, only interested in parties, excesses and adventures behind your wildest imagination. At least that´s what most people think. But in reality, Magnus tries to escape his past and the unsolved mysteries surrounding the tragic events of his childhood. As Magnus decides to return home to New York after years of travelling, he doesn´t only find a new adventure in solving mysterious murders as a private investigator, but he also finds new friends and partners in Detective Inspector Alec Lightwood and his police constable Simon Lewis. The more time he spends in New York, the more he finds himself a new home, and with his new home, he forgets about the past that haunted him for so long. But that doesn´t mean that his past has forgotten him as well. Will Magnus be able to solve the greatest murder case of his life, or will he just end as a murder victim himself?





	1. Chapter 1

He stocked, staring wide eyed at the woman in front of him.  
She was wearing a purple dress and her black hair was pinned up to an ornate hairstyle.  
As she saw him she spread out her arms, giving him her typical predatory smile.  
“My dear nephew,” she said it in a tone that made his hackles set up, “have you missed me?”

It was late on the evening as Tessa stepped into the living room. Her aunt Harriet sat in an old armchair, looking thoughtful at the content of a silver box that laid on her lap, seemingly not even noticing her presence.  
After Tessa had returned home earlier that day, her aunt had informed her that Nate had died. That he got murdered. After that, Tessa had spent the rest of the day laying in her dark room, crying silently into her pillow.   
But now she had finally regained her composure, and with that the curiosity started to rise. She wanted answers. She needed them. She didn´t remember much from her past, and the things she could remember were mostly nothing more than fragments and short glimpses at moments that made no sense to her at all.  
So she only knew the things her aunt had told her, every time when she´d asked her what happened to her parents, and why they had to hide. As a child, she´d never gotten an answer, but as she´d grown old enough to cope with the truth, her aunt Harriet had told her everything (at least she´d always claimed that this would be the whole story; Tessa´d always had her doubts about that).  
Aunt Harriet had then told her that her parents had been servants who had worked for the wrong aristocrats. Such who´d been cruel and who hadn´t cared to stain their hands with blood. She´d told her that these aristocrats had murdered her parents and that she had just barely managed to escape them, and to bring her and Nate to a safe place. She´d said that these rich people would have used their money and their power to cover up their murders, but that they would be still after them because they were witnesses. Because they knew the truth.  
And that was why they had to hide, and why Tessa wasn´t allowed to come close to New York´s elite or even the police (because you couldn´t be sure if they were working for them.)  
Tessa had always thought that her aunt would just be paranoid, or that she would be exaggerating.  
But then Nate wanted to meet with some rich guy who´d promised to make him rich as well (he´d always had a thing for daydreams, for actually believing he could become rich by some kind of miracle), and now he was dead.  
And MAGNUS BANE, the man her aunt has always warned her to never cross paths with, was seemingly working with the police on Nate´s case?! And he´d visited them?!  
Of course it was well known that Lord Magnus Bane had founded a detective agency. The girls at her work were always talking about him and his latest actions, nearly worshipping him. So Tessa knew EVERTHING about him: He had a title he didn´t care about because he never acted like a true Lord (like the one´s in her books); he had wealth and more money then he could ever spend even though he was going to great lengths in his attempts to do that (last week he´d bought a pendant for more money than she would ever be able to earn); he loved excesses and had already caused with that love more than one scandal in the past; and he was spending his whole life with doing whatever he wants whenever he feels like it.  
Tessa had never understood why the other girls at her work were always so raving about him. Why they were always dreaming of becoming Misses Bane. Of course it would be nice to have money and to live in a beautiful house in a good corner of New York. But this man was not a prince charming. He was only trouble. He was one of those rich bon-vivants who have no idea about hard work or real problems. He was like one of those rich arrogant selfish aristocrats who´d taken her parents away from her and the rest of her family. Who´d possibly taken Nate away from them as well, now. And Magnus Bane had probably something to do with it.  
At least if you would believe her aunt´s story, but Tessa still had her doubts…  
Because every time she saw a photo of Magnus Bane in the newspaper or on the cover of one of those gossip magazines, she couldn´t help but thinking that he reminded her of HIM.

It was one of those glimpses of her past she still remembered:  
It was stormy outside. The rain pattered against the window and the night sky was black, the stars and the moon covered by thick frightening storm clouds. Only the flashes illuminated the sky from time to time, leading to a permanent switch between glare and pitch-black night. And then there was the thunder, loud and threatening, and seemingly coming closer with every minute passing by. She was scared. So she climbed out of her bed and walked into the chamber next to hers, climbing into the bed of the boy that slept in there. The boy opened his eyes, asking her sleepily if she couldn´t sleep because of the thunder and as she nodded he sat up, taking her in his arms, telling her that she didn´t have to be afraid, because he would always be there to protect her. 

It was one of her few remaining memories of her childhood. Aunt Harriet never wanted to tell her who that boy had been. Instead she was just clenching her jaw, tightening her lips to a thin line every time Tessa asked her after him. Like she was doing it when Tessa asked her after her angel necklace.  
So she´d never gotten a real answer to any of her questions. At least none that was satisfactory.  
That was why she didn´t know the truth about her past. Like she didn´t know why the hell Magnus Bane, of all people, had to remind her of the boy in her memories.  
Because she knew for sure that they were not the same. They simply couldn´t. For one, because this boy was nice and caring while Magnus Bane, even though she didn´t know him personally, was surely arrogant and selfish. And second, because there would be no reason why she, as the daughter of servants, should have ever been something like close friends with someone like Magnus Bane.  
But she would get her answers.  
She would find out what truly happened with her parents, she would find out who her aunt was fearing and who was searching for them for so long now, and she would find out who that boy was and what Magnus Bane had to do with all of this.  
As she made a further step into the living room, her aunt looked up at her, seemingly surprised.  
“I haven´t heard you coming.”, she said, immediately closing the silver box shut.   
Well, that was suspicious.  
“I´m here because I deserve to know the truth, aunt Harriet.”, Tessa tried to make her voice sound strong and firm (not as if she´d just spent hours with crying desperately), “What is really going on here?”


	2. Chapter 2

Magnus nearly stared with a certain kind of disbelief at the woman in front of him.  
She was wearing a thick black fur coat over a purple sequin dress. Her smile was wide and dangerous, showing him her white teeth. And there was this spark in her dark eyes. He knew that spark. As he knew that it didn´t meant anything good.  
And Magnus noticed very well the muscular man with the scowl who stood behind her at the bottom of the staircase, seemingly carrying a heavy box.  
Magnus frowned. The guy somehow reminded him of the criminals he´d met at the Pandemonium, back then during his meeting with Nigel. It wouldn´t even wonder him if this was one of the men who had truly burned down that old warehouse.  
“Aunt Lilith”, he felt how the words left a bitter taste in his mouth, “I haven´t expected you to return home so early.”  
Why now?! Why did she had to return now? And with such a timing…  
`No rest for the Wicked´, the words echoed through his head.  
Because he knew very well what her return meant. What it would mean for him, and his future.  
“Don´t you wanna ask me to come in? I have great news!”, she cheered, but in a way that made a cold shiver running down his back.  
“I fear this is not the right time for telling me about your `great news´, aunt.”, Magnus said, getting an affronted look from her.  
“And why´s that?”, she asked, her voice sharp as she mustered him.  
“Because there is a police inspector sitting in my salon.”, he informed her, his voice strict.  
Lilith raised her brows, but a grin curled up her lips anyways.  
“So that´s how you´ve spent your free time during my absence? You´ve made our dear little detective inspector becoming your boy-toy?”, she sounded amused, giving the scary guy a signal and he climbed up the stairs, putting the box on the ground between Lilith and Magnus before heading for his aunt´s car again.  
“I´ll leave this here for you. If you´re not too busy doing something else, well SOMEONE else apparently, then you should take a look at it.”, she explained, attempting to leave.  
“You´re already leaving?”, Magnus asked suspiciously. It didn´t suited to his aunt to accept a refusal that easily.  
“But of course I am. After all I´m definitely not going to discuss the plans for our murder with you if your uniformed toy is waiting in the other room for your return.”  
“So I take it that you´ve found out the truth?”, Magnus asked, one eyebrow raised. He couldn´t quite tell if he was curious, excited or desperate. Probably a mix of all three.  
Lilith´s lips quirked up once more. “I´ve found out a lot. And I couldn´t be more disgusted by my brothers´ stupidities. But that´s also what makes the prospect of our early revenge so much sweeter.”  
As she turned around, attempting to leave Magnus stopped her once more. He knew that it was foolish, that he should finally forget about that stupid coincidence, but he couldn´t. Somehow, he couldn´t let go of the events of the past two days yet. He had to be sure, no matter how stupid it was but he wanted to believe that Alexander had been wright. He wanted to have hope.  
“Can I ask you something, aunt?”, he tried to sound casual, making sure that he wouldn´t arouse her curiosity too much.  
Lilith gave him a questioning look, one brow raised. “I guess that depends on the question, my dear.”  
“Does the name `Gray´ sound familiar to you in any way?”, he couldn´t get over the feeling that he knew Mrs. Gray from somewhere.  
Lilith scoffed. “Please don´t come me with that family again.”, she said contemptuously and with an obvious roll of her eyes.  
“So you DO know them?”, he blinked, eyes widening.  
“Sadly, I do.”, she sighed.  
As she didn´t said anything else Magnus raised his brows questioningly, signaling her that he would like to hear more.  
She gave him a look, but sighed. “You already know that Tessa had only been your half-sister. You see, your mother had come out of a noble and wealthy Asian family, highly respected but sadly the poor thing had to find an early death. And then your father had to pick up that girl from the streets, your step-mother, and marry her. The only good thing that came out of this social downgrade was our lovely Tessa.”  
Magnus frowned. He´d always known that his aunt wasn´t very proud of his step-mother, but Magnus loved her and she loved him as if he would be her own child. Besides, he couldn´t see the point of his aunt´s explanation.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Your step-mother´s birthname was Gray, my dear Magnus. Elizabeth Gray. Your father had to fall in love with that girl and since then I can´t get rid of her. At least I didn´t had to see her sister in ages.”  
Magnus heart was starting to race again. Maybe he hadn´t been such a fool after all.  
“W- What was her sister´s name?”, he had to calm himself to sound as casual as possible so that he wouldn´t blurt out the words all at once.  
Lilith gave him a look. `Of course´, Magnus thought, `as if she would remember something like that´.  
“Why should I waste my precious memories to remember some poor girl that I haven´t seen since Tessa died.”  
Since Tessa died?!  
“Was it Harriet?”, he asked careful.  
“Oh yeah”, his aunt scoffed, “That´s it. Harriet Gray. Why do you ask?”  
Magnus swallowed hard. If that was true, then this would mean that Harriet Gray was actually Tessa´s aunt…  
“No reason, just so.”, he muttered, not really giving her much attention, too lost in his own thoughts. It all started to make sense now. The guardian angel, the way Mrs. Gray looked so familiar to him, the way she´d looked at him as if he would be familiar to her as well. What didn´t made sense was that other girl that she´d claimed to be her niece, this Miss Sophie. But on the other hand: hadn´t she seemed to be a little bit confused as Mrs. Gray called her her niece. Magnus had thought that confusion had been a reaction to the loss of her brother but what if she´d been confused because she wasn´t Mrs. Gray´s niece at all? Or was he overinterpreting things again? No! That simply couldn´t be a coincidence. At least not this time… But why….  
“I´m leaving you alone with your toy, now”, his aunt announced, not waiting for his answer,  
before she vanished into the night.  
Magnus stood there a whole while longer while his thoughts were racing, solving mysteries, connecting things, creating new unanswered questions and mysteries, before he slowly came back to his senses, carried the box inside, and carefully closed the old heavy front door. He leaned his forehead against the red wood, letting out a loud heavy sigh.  
As he turned around he saw Alexander, leaning in the doorframe to the salon, giving him a questioning look.  
And Magnus couldn´t help the panic that started to spread in his chest.  
Since the conversation with his aunt Magnus had a lot of questions in his mind, but now there was a new one, one that was louder and scarier than all the others:  
How long had he already been standing there and how much had he heard?


	3. Chapter 3

“How long have you been standing there?”, Magnus asked, already fearing his answer.  
“Not long.”, Alec said, relaxing Magnus a little, “I´ve wanted to look after you. So our victim´s aunt is actually your sister´s aunt as well?”, he sounded curious. Not angry, not accusingly, just curious.  
Thank god.  
As his worries abated his curiosity started to rise again as well.  
“It appears so.”, he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, looking thoughtful to the ground.  
“Do you know if your step-mother has any other siblings besides this Harriet?”, Alec raised an eyebrow.  
“No, not that I would know.”, Magnus asked, already having a pretty good idea what Alec was referring to.  
“Then whose children are Sophie and Nathaniel?”, Alec voiced their thoughts.  
“That´s one of the many mysteries I´ll have to solve.”, Magnus sighed.  
“We.”, Alec pointed out.  
“We what?”, Magnus looked up at him, brows furrowing.  
“We´ll solve these mysteries. Together.”, he gave him a reassuring smile, before adding, “Tomorrow.”

Magnus had never been much of an early bird, but this morning he was even up before sunrise. He´d simply been too excited to sleep. He and Alexander had decided that they would visit Mrs. Gray again, asking her after her relation to Magnus´ family. He couldn´t await getting her answer.  
Magnus stepped into their kitchen, slowing down as he saw Isabelle standing on their kitchen table, fiddling with the light.  
“What exactly are you doing there?”, he asked, frowning.  
As Izzy finally noticed his presence as well she gave him a grin.  
“I´m replacing the bulb.”  
„Isn´t that Ragnor´s job? Or what about Will or Jem?”, Seriously, Magnus would have even preferred if Chairman would have tried to replace the bulb. Everything would be better than Izzy being alone in the kitchen. She´d once managed to set the stove on fire while she´d been warming water. The whole stove.  
“Ragnor is busy with Chairman and Jem is busy with Will because he´s behaving ridiculous in the salon.”, Izzy shrugged, “Besides, I always like being in the kitchen.”, she grinned, causing Magnus to shudder. That had been one of the most alarming things he´d ever heard.  
“In how far is Will behaving ridiculous in the salon?”, he asked, already regretting that he hadn´t had a coffee yet.

As Magnus walked towards the open salon doors, he could already hear Raphael giving one of his sermons. In Spanish! Not a good sign.  
“Gran dios! Eres incluso peor que Magnus cuando se emborracha!”  
Magnus´ spanish was a bit rusty but he´d understood enough to know that Will was seemingly drunk and did stupid stuff in his salon.  
As Magnus stepped through the open doors he got nearly hit by a book that flew towards him. He ducked his head and dodged the near collision.  
“What the-“, he attempted to say but got distracted by the chaos in his salon. There were books everywhere: on the ground, on the armchairs, one even hung over the lampshade.  
He looked over to the bookshelf where a lightly drunk Will Herondale was just busy searching a certain book, throwing all the other books frustrated through the room.  
Jem tried to stop him while Raphael just stood in one corner, arms crossed in front of his chest and a murderous glare in his eyes.  
As Raphael saw him he sighed annoyed, pointing at Will´s chaos. “Your employee, your problem.”, the way he said it made clear that he wouldn´t deal with it any further second.  
“Don´t worry, Raph.”, Magnus assured, “I´m taking care of it. Maybe you can watch after Isabelle. She´s alone in the kitchen right now.”  
“Why´s that?!”, Raphael stared at him shocked.  
As Raphael left them to make sure that Izzy wouldn´t try to cook anything again, Magnus turned his attention over to Will and Jem.  
“What is this supposed to be?”  
“Will is still drunk from last night.”, Jem explained, sighing.  
“I´m not drunk”, Will insisted.  
Magnus eyed him suspiciously, “William, how drunk were you last night?”  
“Well, I haven´t started a bar fight and I´m still wearing my pants, so apparently not that drunk.”, he argued, grinning, making Magnus frown.  
“Will”, Jem said in a strict voice, “You´ve joined in a bar fight. And these aren´t your pants.”  
Will looked down at himself, brows furrowing in confusion.  
Magnus pinched the bridge of his nose. “And what have the books done to you?”, he asked, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.  
“Nothing.”, Will shrugged, “I actually love books.”  
As Magnus gave them a confused look Jem jumped in, answering at Wills place, “He´s searching for a certain book.”  
“And what book would that be?”  
“A tale of two cities.”, Will grinned, “I wanna read it again because she´s reading it as well.”  
“She?”  
“A girl Will and I have met yesterday while you were visiting Mrs. Gray. Will´s totally in love.”, Jem explained again.  
“What´s her name?”, Magnus asked, grinning. Doing stupid stuff because you´re in love? Well that´s relatable.  
“I don´t know.”, Will sighed frustrated, “But she´s a friend of Sophie.”  
“Sophie?”, Magnus frowned, “Sophie Gray? Mrs. Gray´s niece. You know her?”  
“What?!”, Will laughed in disbelief. “No, her name is Sophie Collins.”  
“Are you sure?”, Magnus was fully awake now, even without the coffee.  
“Quite sure, yeah. We lived in the same street when we were young.”  
“So she isn´t the niece of Mrs. Gray?”  
“No.”, Jem shaked his head, “that was the girl she´s friends with, the one Will is so obsessed with right now.”  
“And you definitely don´t know her name?”, Magnus demanded, feeling how his breath became faster.  
“No, but I´m pretty sure that it started with a T.”  
Tessa.


	4. Chapter 4

Magnus jumped out of the taxi and ran towards the old building that he´d already visited the other day. After his conversation with Will and Jem he couldn´t wait for Alexander´s arrival so he´d left a note for him and ordered Will and Jem to drive him there. As he came closer to the building´s entry he slowed his run, until he stopped completely. The door was slightly open, someone must have broken it up. He swallowed hard, carefully pushing the door open and stepping inside the house. He couldn´t remember the last time he´d felt such a fear. The mix of concern, hope, doubt, fear and curiosity that he felt right now made his stomach tense until he felt like he would have to vomit.   
There were so many questions racing through his mind:  
What was going on here?  
Who killed Nathaniel Gray?  
Who was Nathaniel Gray?  
What had Mrs. Gray to do with Tessa´s disappearance all these years ago?  
Who was it that scared this family so much?  
Had his aunt something to do with it?  
But the one that was definitely the loudest of all:  
WAS TESSA ALRIGHT?!

Alec, Simon and Raphael found Magnus in the living room of the family Gray. He was sitting in an old armchair that had already been patched a few times, looking down at the silver box in his lap. He was surrounded by chaos, the whole flat had been devastated by the intruders. Furniture had been smashed, shards of broken glass were covering the floor together with books and other small household items. You couldn´t deny that it looked like there had been a fight.  
“Dios”, Raphael muttered as he eyed the left-overs of the flats interior, “parece que una tormenta ha rugida aqui.”  
“What about Tessa?”, Alec asked carefully, noticing very well how Magnus, even though he didn´t took his eyes from that box, flinched visibly at the mention of her name.  
“Gone.”, he said it with a low voice, “Taken. I don´t know.”  
Raphael went over to his friend, kneeling beside him on the ground.  
“What do you have there?”, he pointed at the box in his lap.  
“The final proof.”, Magnus showed them all the box´s content. In there were a collection of photographs. On many of them was a young girl that Raphael only knew too well from the pictures that Magnus had at their home: Tessa. Tessa in an elegant dress, Tessa with a fluffy cat, Tessa next to a boy, that was, apparently, Magnus as a child.  
“Dios mìo”, Raphael breathed the words, “Ella està realmente viva. Tessa is really alive.”  
“And she was in New York. All the time.”, Magnus said it with a certain kind of emptiness in his voice. “And now that I´ve finally found her, she´s gone again.”  
“But not forever. We´ll find her.”, Alec´s voice was strict and serious. The voice of a police man who had a task to fulfill.   
“He´s right, mi amigo”, Raphael´s voice was soft and caring, “Just think of it as one of your normal cases. Solve it and find her. How would you start?”  
Raphael didn´t like to see his friend like this, and he was sure as hell that, whoever was responsible for this mess, he would make him pay.  
“We need to find the one who did this.”, Magnus said, regaining his composure, all his senses being in full swing, “and I have a certain feeling that it had been the same men who had murdered Nathaniel Gray.”  
“But I´ve thought that Nathaniel Gray had been murdered because he´d been a gambler.”, Simon frowned.  
“I wouldn´t be so sure about this anymore, mi amor.”, Raphael stood up, inspecting the room closely, “This woman has lived a lie. God knows if anything of this is true.”  
“But why would someone do that?”  
“She was seemingly hiding from someone.”, Magnus stood up as well, carefully placing the silver box on the small table next to the armchair, “The same someone who´s behind this chaos, and the murder, and probably also behind my sister´s need to disappear all these years ago.”  
“So whoever had frightened her has finally found her now.”, Alec concluded.  
“We need to find these men.”, Magnus said, “If we find the men than we´ll find the one they´re working for.”  
“Do we know anything about them?”  
“Well”, Simon´s face lightened up, “We know that they´re driving an old rickety car with the logo of a fishing company on the side.”  
“That means that they probably work down at the docks”, Raphael added, before turning over to Magnus, “Why don´t we ask Nigel for help?”  
“The pirate?”, Alec raised his eyebrow skeptically.  
“He´d helped us before.”, Magnus argued, making the detective sigh.  
“Okay, fine.”, Alec gave in, “Simon and I will drive back to the police station and try to find out more about this family, you and Raphael go and talk to the pirate.”  
“Let´s go.”, Magnus cheered. He was highly motivated by now. He would find her, and if it´s the last thing he does.


	5. Chapter 5

Magnus couldn´t help the nostalgic feeling that he had as he and Raphael walked down the docks. The last time he´d been here was during his very first case, back then on his second day in New York, as he hadn´t founded his business yet, as he hadn´t been friends with Alexander or Simon, as he´d still thought that his sister would be dead and his aunt the one responsible for this. He couldn´t believe how much had changed since then, how foolish he´d been back on these days.  
He could hear the seagulls above their heads and the cold winter air of New York made him shudder. Or maybe it was just the current situation that chilled him to the bones like that. Yeah, it was probably more because of the second.  
They were on their way to meet with Nigel at their usual place: the Pandemonium.  
The bar for the gangster, smuggler and not so law-abiding sailors of this port. He didn´t know if Nigel would really be able to give them the information that they needed to find these men, to find Tessa, but right now it seemed that he was the best option they had. The Pandemonium hasn´t really changed since his last visit all these months ago. It was still dark, with an intimidating atmosphere and as he and Raphael stepped through the wooden doors, they were welcomed by a wave of the same disgusting foul smelling smoke that Magnus had already hated so much the last time he´d been here.  
And like the last time, he and Raphael managed to gain a lot of attention from some very huge, very scary-looking guys. Just that this time, they all seemed to be a little bit intimidated. Which was probably because Raphael eyed them all with his murderous glare, his eyes narrowed to crescents and his jaw clenched. He looked scarier than any of these gangsters in here and Magnus couldn´t be more glad to have him by his side during this case. Not just because he kept the scary guys away, but also because he was his anchor. If it wouldn´t be because of him and his support, Magnus would have probably already turned mad and would have done something irreparable stupid. But luckily, he had Raphael by his side. As he had Alexander, and Simon, and Ragnor, and all the others. Magnus had actually already realized it quite a while ago: that somehow, he´d managed to find himself a family. A real family. Not blood-related, but still his family. And these people were the best family-members he could have ever hoped for.  
Nigel sat at one of the small tables in one dark corner of the bar, signaling them to come and join him. As he and Raph took seats at the table, he eyed Raphael suspiciously. And Raphael did the same with Nigel. Magnus could nearly see the tension that spread in the air around them.  
“Magnus, my old friend, who´s this supposed to be?”, Nigel asked.  
“Nigel, that´s Raphael Santiago. He´s my best friend.”, Magnus tried to sound cheerful, “Raphael, that´s six-finger-Nigel.”  
“THE Raphael Santiago?”, Nigel raised one brow, “the famous art-thief?”   
“So you´ve heard about him?”, Magnus frowned. Nigel seemed to be less skeptical by now, actually he seemed to be rather impressed.   
Raphael, on the other hand, still had his murderous glare in his eyes.  
“Of course I have. Now, what are the two of you doing here?”  
“We´re here to ask for your help, Nigel.”, Magnus announced.  
“Magnus”, Nigel sighed, “How often do I need to tell you that I´m not a rat I will not-“  
“Tessa is alive.”, Magnus interjected, his voice firm and his eyes fixed on Nigel, whose eyes widened more and more as he started to realize the meaning of Magnus´ words.  
“But your sister died when the two of you were still kids…”  
“Apparently, I´d been wrong about this. She was here in New York, all this time, hiding from some evil men who´re probably working for my family or god knows who else is involved in this as well. She probably got kidnapped this night and I have to find her before it´s truly too late.”  
“My god…”, Nigel breathed out.   
“Nigel, please.”, Magnus pleaded, “I don´t know who else to ask.”  
Nigel closed his eyes, letting out a heavy breath. “Fine”, he said, making Magnus´ face lighten up, “I´ll help you. But promise me that I´ll never have to deal with your aunt ever again.”  
“Lilith?”, Raphael frowned, “When did you had to deal with Lilith?”  
“During the time when she and Elyas smuggled alcohol.”, Nigel explained, and Magnus felt panic rising in his chest. He´d totally forgotten about this lie. He´d told so many lies during these last months, had kept so many things secret that he´d totally forgotten how it all had started in the first place.  
“Since when has Lilith smuggled alcohol?”, Raphael asked curious, “I´ve thought that she and Elyas had an affair.”  
“An affair?!”, Nigel laughed in disbelief.  
“Doesn´t really matter who had done what and when and with whom, right?”, Magnus interjected way too late, not even believing himself that he could still defuse the situation.  
Raphael fixed him with his glare, mustering his features closely, “You´ve told me, us, everyone that Nigel had told you that this devil of an aunt wouldn´t have had to do anything with the smuggle, but that she and Elyas Rollins would have simply had an affair.”  
“What?!”, Nigel commented, sill laughing.  
Well, crap.  
Magnus fidgeted nervously in his chair, view lowered so that it wouldn´t meet with Raphael´s glare while he played with the rings on his fingers.  
“That is quite the long story.”, he confessed.  
“Try to make it short.”  
“Raphael, you need to understand that-“  
“Dios, Magnus!”, Raphael was really pissed. Not good. “I´ve been understanding for months now. I knew you were hiding things from us, that you had secrets you didn´t wanna tell us about…. I knew that all and I´ve never pushed into that topic, even though it would have been hard not to notice how these things have burdened you. But I never would have thought that you would LIE to us, for HER!”  
“Raphael, I-“  
“I want answers Magnus. NOW!”, Raphael really wouldn´t accept any kind of argument, Magnus could see that. He sighed, rubbing his temples in soothing circles to fight against the growing headache.   
“Fine.”, he finally surrendered. “I´ll tell you everything.”


	6. Chapter 6

Magnus watched how Raphael put his head back in his neck to empty his already third glass of Bourbon, even though the alcohol wasn´t affecting him yet. He put the empty glass back on the table, signaling the bar keeper to bring him a fourth one.  
“You´re mad at me.”, Magnus observed.  
Raphael gave him his `are you kidding me´ look. Normally, under different circumstances, Magnus would react to it with some kind of a lopsided grin or another sassy comment, but this was neither the right time nor the right situation to be silly.  
“Why do you think that?”, Raphael asked with an unmistakably amount of sarcasm in his voice, “Maybe because you´ve covered for your aunt? Or maybe because you´ve decided to make murder plans with her behind our backs?”, his lips were tightened and his breath heavy. He was angry. Really angry. But also hurt. Magnus knew him long enough now to know that he was probably even more hurt than angry or mad.  
“Raphael, please try to understand that I had to-“  
“What?”, Raphael fell him in the word, “You had to do what, Magnus? You had to lie to us? Or you had to murder someone?”  
“I haven´t murdered anyone yet.”, Magnus tried to appease him.  
“But you´ve planned to!”, Raphael nearly shouted, causing Magnus to wince. That was so unlike him. It wasn´t rare that Raphael got angry and he actually was a grumpy cat all the time (except when Simon was around) but he always stayed calm. He never freaked out and he only rarely shouted.  
He screwed it up. He knew that he screwed it up. He should have never lied to them.  
“Do you believe that I´ve wanted to do that, Raphael? That I´ve wanted to make this deal with my aunt? Hell, you´ve said it yourself: That it had burdened me all the time.”  
“Then why did you had to do it?”  
“Because I´ve thought that it would be the only way to finally find out the truth about Tessa´s death. Well, her non-existing death, to be accurate.”, he sighed, rubbing with his hand over his face.   
This was ALL so screwed up…  
Raphael ran his index finger over the edge of the glass. Again and again, always in a circle while looking down at the bottom of the glass.   
“I´m still hurt”, he admitted, his voice sounding calm, “because you´ve actually thought that you had to run to your aunt for help, even though you have friends who would even go to jail for you. What we´ve actually already done, once.”  
“But to be fair: Cat and I have helped you and Ragnor to break out on the very same day.”, Magnus commented, getting an impressed look from Nigel and the pleasure to see a slight smile on Raphs lips.  
“You have indeed. But what I´ve actually wanted to say is: I´m still hurt because we are best friends. I know that it´s hard for you to trust others, the same goes for me. But that is also why I´ve always thought that we could at least trust each other.”  
“We can.”, Magnus said.  
“The why haven´t you told me?”  
“Because I´ve somehow hoped that it would never come to the murder. As long as I kept it for myself, it still felt surreal. But the moment I would have told you or one of the others about it-“  
“It would have become real.”, Raphael finished his sentence.  
“Exactly. And I guess I wasn´t ready for the reality yet.”, Magnus confessed with a sigh.  
“Idiota. You´ve never been ready to face reality. I mean you´ve spent your entire life doing stupid and dangerous shit just to flee from your past and the reality of Tessa´s death. But what you´ve done back then, that wasn´t fleeing.”  
“What do you want to say?”, Magnus asked.  
“I want to say that I understand why you´ve thought that you´ve had to do it. So I´m still hurt, but I´m not mad anymore.”  
“Really?!”, Magnus looked up, and Raphael noticed the hopeful expression on his face.  
“Incredible but true: You´ve done worse than that. And I´ve never been able to be mad at you for a long time, mi amigo.”, Raphael gave him a slight smile, before turning back to Nigel, continuing with their previous topic as if nothing had happened at all. “So, we´re searching for criminals who´re working for a fishing company that prints its logo on the sides of its cars. I know it´s unlikely but do you possibly know the one or other gangster who fits to this description?”  
Magnus and Nigel both seemed to be a little bit puzzled for a moment. It really was like their previous talk hadn´t existed at all. Nigel needed a moment to get used to the sudden change of the topic but as Raphael raised his brows questioningly, seemingly starting to get impatient, he let out a breath, saying: “I think I actually know who you´re looking for?”  
“Really?!”, Magnus raised his brows in surprise. He hadn´t expected this to become that easy. Well, not the part where he had to confess to Raphael about his murder plans but the part where they find out who´s behind this.  
“Do you have pen and paper? Then I´ll write down the names and the address where you´ll probably find them.”


	7. Chapter 7

Alec and Simon were surrounded by piles of boxes filled with documents. Alec had tried to find the birth certification of Nathaniel Gray because he wanted to know who his parents were but there was none. No birth certification, no proof that there has ever truly existed a Nathaniel Gray. The same went for Tessa Gray. The only one they were able to find any documents about was Harriet Gray. So Harriet Gray had actually raised Tessa Bane, but why? Why had she kidnapped her own niece? Or had she tried to save her? But from what? Or better: whom? And who hell had Nathaniel Gray been? He wasn´t a Bane, that´s for sure. Magnus didn´t had a younger brother, he just had a younger sister. Sorry, he HAS a younger sister.  
“Have you found something, Lewis?”, he looked over to his constable who sat next to a dangerously crooked pile of files, leafing through a thick folder with registrations at the town hall.  
“Not really.”, he sighed, closing the folder shut. “Maybe we should search the files with the cases of missing children?”, he offered. “I mean, Tessa Gray is actually Lady Tessa Bane and god that sounds like a story from a Fairytale. You know when the poor farm girl finds out that she´s actually the king´s daughter and a princess?”  
“Yeah, just that our secret princess got kidnapped by real gangsters, and we don´t have a fairy godmother who can help us to save her.”  
“Well, we have Magnus. At least he´s sparkling enough to go through as a fairy.”, Simon shrugged and Alec had to stop himself from bursting out into laughter. “But my point is: when Tessa was actually a child who got taken away from her parents and went missing for years, even declared death, then maybe the same goes for Nathaniel Gray. Harriet Gray has seemingly kept the first names so maybe we should look if there are any children with the name Nathaniel who´d been reported missing.”  
Alec raised his eyebrows.  
“Bad idea?”, Simon asked, a little insecure.  
“No, actually it´s the opposite.”, Alec said appreciatively, “that´s a brilliant idea, Lewis.”  
“Really?”, Simon beamed at him.  
“Mi amor only has brilliant ideas.”, a voice commented next to them. Alec looked up to see Magnus and Raphael standing in front of them, eyeing the piles of files suspiciously, as if they could fall over every minute and bury them like an avalanche. Admittedly: the fear wasn´t completely unfounded.  
“How was your meeting with the pirate?”, Alec asked. He still couldn´t believe that he was actually asking such a question in a casual way. Like you ask your friend: `How was your date last night?´ or `How was your trip down the coast?´. No, he was actually asking the aristocratic private investigator he´s working with (whom he´d kissed more than one time, fuck…) how the meeting with his informer – the pirate and smuggler – had been? When did this become his life? Alec really couldn´t tell but he also had to realize that he wouldn´t want it to be any other way.  
As Alec raised his question, Magnus and Raphael exchanged a quick view, a strange expression on their faces. But before Alec had the chance to think about it too much Raphael said: “Uneventful. But we have a list with the names of our culprits and the address of an old abandoned warehouse where we can find them.”  
Alec raised his brows, Simon next to him beamed at his boyfriend. “Really?”  
“Yes, mi amor.”  
“But that´s great!”, he cheered, before he stopped, frowning, “Why are you here?”, he asked.  
“To inform you?”, Magnus raised an eyebrow.  
Ok, that was strange. Alec had to admit that Simon´s question and astonishment were more than just justified.   
“What he means is: since when aren´t you doing any fooleries without telling us about your plan or even waiting for us to be your back-up?”, Alec gave him a questioning look, “Seriously, I would have expected you to be already somewhere outside that warehouse where you search for a window to break in.”  
“Are you sick?”, Simon interfered, looking worried.  
Magnus opened his mouth, then closed it again, seemingly not sure what to respond. Raphael had to suppress a laughter and answered instead: “I´ve told him that it would be better to go to you first.”  
Ok, now it was really becoming scary.  
“And since when does Magnus listen to your reasonable suggestions? He´s everything but reasonable.”  
Magnus looked more and more startled, his mouth opening and closing, while he was blinking.  
“He´d done something stupid and now he´s feeling guilty because of it and tries to make it up for that by actually listening to what I say.”, Raphael explained with a simple shrug.  
Oh god…  
“Have you killed someone?!”, Alec blurted out, causing Raph and Magnus to give him some very shocked looks.  
“W-What?!”, Magnus said, “Wait, no!”  
“Why do you think that?!”, Raphael added.  
“Because you´ve said that he would feel guilty for something stupid he´d done. Magnus never feels guilty because he´d done something stupid so it must be something very VERY bad.”, Alec explained.  
Well, he had a point…  
And his suggestion wasn´t so wrong…  
Not right, of course, but it went into the right direction…  
Damn it.  
“I assure you detective, that I haven´t killed anyone.”, Magnus said, his voice firm.  
Well, it wasn´t a lie this time. But it wasn´t the whole truth either.  
“Ok”, Alec sighed, trying to stand up without throwing down any of the piles. Admittedly a task that turned out to be much more difficult than originally expected. But he´d somehow managed it. “Let´s go to the warehouse. But you two stay here. This time it´s actually really too dangerous.”  
“Fine.”, Magnus sighed.   
That had been way too easy.  
Again: oh god…  
Alec stared at Magnus for a very long time, his brows furrowed.  
“What?”, Magnus asked, seemingly confused.  
“Do I wanna know what you´ve done?”  
“No.”, Raphael answered at his place, “Not really. Trust me, detective.”  
“Ok.”, Alec said slowly, turning over to his constable, “Lewis, let´s go.”


	8. Chapter 8

The warehouse Nigel had lead them to was close by the docks, and definitely not in the best corner of New York. And the warehouse itself was in a state that mirrored it: old, dilapidated, with cracks in the walls, rotten railings and broken windows. In other words: It was the perfect cliché of a criminal meeting place.  
Alec looked over to Simon, who was taking out his gun, unlocking it so that they could finally go in. They carefully slipped through the old doors, trying not to make too much noise (what was nearly impossible considering that the hinges were rusty and that they couldn´t make a step without having shards of glass crunching under their feet.  
Alec felt how he held his breath as they rounded one corner, ready to catch them.

“We should have gone with them.”, Magnus whined as they entered his mansion. He still couldn´t believe that he´d actually agreed to be good and wait at home. He wasn´t a housewife.  
“And what would you have done, Magnus? You´re not a cop.”, Raphael argued as he stepped through the door into the entry hall.   
“But I have a gun. And I know how to shoot.”  
“First: You have several guns and you´re always forgetting them everywhere. I´ve once found one in our garden next to the rose bushes. And second: You think that you know how to shoot.”, he gave him a reproachful look.  
“Is there a difference?”. Magnus asked sheepishly.  
“I´m pretty sure that the painting of Lord Montgomery would say yes.”  
“How often do I still need to apologize for accidently shooting that painting?”, Magnus sighed.  
“The painting”, Raphael gritted out, “was a Monet. And you´ve destroyed it with your stupid pistola.” Raphael always had a thing for art. A leftover of his time as a thief. That was also why he didn´t take it lightly if someone destroyed a piece of art. Like Magnus had done it when he accidently shot Monet´s painting even though he´d actually planned to shoot the target that admittedly stood several steps away from it ( to be fair: he´d been drunk back then and it had been a bet with Lord Montgomery that he´d sadly lost).  
“I´ve already told you that I´m sorry. But what has this destroyed painting to do with the current police operation?”, he pouted.  
“Do you want Tessa to share the same fate as the Monet?”, Raphael raised his eyebrow.  
He couldn´t argue against that…  
“Of course not.”, Magnus sighed in surrender, but still pouting.  
As the entered the salon, Magnus had to notice that Cat and Clary were there as well, seemingly waiting for them, and looking everything but happy.  
“Biscuit. My dear Catarina”, Magnus cheered, trying to ignore the evil reproachful looks that they sent their way, “What a lovely surprise. It´s good to see you.”  
Clary clenched her jaw, her eyes narrowed. Magnus had to bit back an appropriate grin. He couldn´t help it: she was so tiny; it simply looked too cute when she got angry. “When did you two wanted to finally inform us about the fact that Tessa is still alive?!”, she asked, fixing them with her glare.  
Informing them that…  
Oh.  
OH.  
Magnus closed his eyes, cursing internally. He knew he´d forgotten something. But to be honest: when should he have done it? It´s not like he would know it for months, and it had been quite the eventful time since he´d found it out. But on the other hand he could also understand why they were angry: Catarina and he were friends since childhood, so she´d known Tessa as well; and Tessa and Clary had been best friends. The two had mourned her death as well so of course they wanted to know if she was alive.  
“I´m sorry.”, Magnus sighed, “It was quite the long day and I´ve simply hadn´t thought about telling you.”  
Their expressions softened. Clary came towards him, giving him a reassuring hug. “We should be sorry. We shouldn´t have reacted like that. It was just quite the shock.”  
“I know what you mean, believe me.”, Magnus muttered, causing them to laugh lightly.  
“So, what are we going to do now?”, Cat asked.  
“We wait.”, Raphael said, letting himself fall into one of the armchairs.

They´d been waiting for what felt like an eternity but could actually haven´t been longer than an hour when they´ve heard the sound of their doorbell. The bell itself wasn´t that loud but in the moment it seemed to be deafening. Ragnor attempted to stand up and open the door but Magnus was faster. He jumped up and ran outside the room, nearly stumbling over the box of his aunt as he hushed to the door, opening it with a racing heartbeat.


	9. Chapter 9

“Where´s Tessa?!”, Magnus demanded as he looked at the depressed faces of Alec and Simon. The two stood outside of his mansion, clearly not happy with their roles of being the bearers of the bad news.  
“I´m so sorry, Magnus.”, Alec said, “We haven´t been able to find her.”  
“W- What do you mean? Was the warehouse a lost track?”, Magnus looked back and forth between the two, searching their features hardly for any kind of hint.  
“No”, Alec shook his head, some of his strands falling loosely on his forehead, “the warehouse was a success.”  
“But why-“  
“Why don´t you ask them to come in first, and then they can tell us all what happened.”, Raphael has popped up behind him, gesturing Alec and Simon to come with them into the salon.  
They were all gathered in the salon. Clary, Isabelle, and Catarina sat in the big armchairs, while Magnus, Raphael and Ragnor leaned against the sideboard. Will and Jem, however, were nowhere to be seen (but Alec suspected that they were busy with fighting for the rights of the workers while having the one or other scotch in a lousy bar). Alec and Simon stood in the middle of the room, very aware of the fact that all eyes were turned on them.  
“So?”, Raphael asked softly, giving his boyfriend a reassuring look, “What happened?”  
Alec was the one who answered that:  
“As we stormed the warehouse, we´d been able to arrest the men we´d been looking for, but Tessa hadn´t been there. We´ve interrogated the men but they didn´t wanna tell us the name of their boss. But it´s seemingly someone who scares them more than the prospect of ending at the gallows. Besides, they´d sworn that they would have never had Tessa at all. That she hadn´t been there in the flat and that they´d just kidnapped Harriet Gray. But they also didn´t wanna tell us what happened to her as well. They´ve only confessed the murder of Nathaniel Gray. It had seemingly been a contract killing for the mysterious man they´re not willing to reveal.” He sighed.  
“So we actually have nothing?”, Ragnor summarized their current situation, one eyebrow raised.  
“I wouldn´t say that”, Simon tried to cheer them up, “We´ve caught the murderers of Nathaniel Gray. That´s something.”  
He failed.  
Everyone still looked as if they´d been hit in the face right now.  
“But we still don´t have the mysterious man who stands behind all this. And we also don´t have Tessa.”, Magnus pointed out, trying to keep his composure. Again, he´d been so close to her. And again, he´d been too late.  
“You know what?”, Catarina lifted herself up from her seat, “I´m definitely in the mood for a drink. Or more like ten drinks. I´ll go find myself a nice bar. Who´s in?”

Everyone left to go and forget the emotional whirlwind of the day with the help of actually forbidden alcohol. Everyone but Magnus, who wasn´t in the mood for being among people, and Alec, who insisted on staying and being his company.  
As the two of them were alone, Magnus went over to his bar, pouring himself a drink.  
“You want one as well?”, he asked, turning over to Alexander, but this one just stood up and went over to the bar as well.  
“I´m sorry.”, Alec said, as he stood directly in front of Magnus, looking him deep in the eyes. “But I promise you that we will find out what happened with your sister. I´ll help you. And I´ll be there for you whenever you need me.”  
“Really? You will?”  
“I will always be there for you, idiot.”, Alec said softly, but couldn´t suppress the slight chuckle.  
Magnus swallowed hard, not knowing what to say. But he also didn´t had to because Alec stepped towards him, taking the glass of Whiskey out of his hand before placing it on the sideboard. Magnus watched every single of Alexander´s movements with a certain curiosity, wondering what he was up to.  
But then Alec stepped closer towards him, pressing his lips against his, kissing him deep and passionate. Magnus didn´t know why or when but at some point the spark of their kiss turned into a fire that made him forget everything else. And that was exactly what he wanted: to forget. And to simply lose himself in the arms of the man he wanted so badly.  
The two of them went straight for his bedroom, not caring that they were nearly stumbling up the stairs because they couldn´t let go of each other.  
As they finally reached the darkness of Magnus´ room, Alec stopped, pulling away from Magnus, looking him in the eyes.  
“Do you want this Mags?”  
“Do you?”  
They stared at each other for a long moment, before they decided that they needed to stop overthinking everything, because they both wanted each other, they both cared for each other, they both felt something for each other. And that was the only thing that truly mattered right now.  
“I want it.”, Alec finally confessed.  
“So do I”, Magnus nearly beamed at him, kissing him again. Alec pulled him closer, starting to unbutton his shirt.  
It was only half off as they were stumbling over to Magnus´ bed, still not letting go of each other, not even as they fell down on its soft sheets.

Magnus couldn´t remember the last time he´d felt so happy when he woke up. He turned his head, looking at the still sleeping detective inspector in his bed. The sun had seemingly already risen up and her beams were shining on his face. And Magnus couldn´t help but smile as he watched him. He looked like an angel, a sleeping angel.  
After a while Magnus decided that he would make them coffee and breakfast that they could eat in bed together. He put on his dressing gown and sneaked out of the room, careful so that he wouldn´t wake his angel up.  
As he went downstairs he noticed someone knocking on their front door.  
Ragnor was seemingly still sleeping off his hangover from last night so Magnus went to open on his place.  
“How can I hel-“, he stopped as he saw the girl in front of him.  
“You´re Lord Bane.”, she said with teary eyes, “Lord Magnus Bane. I recognize you from the photos in the newspaper. I know that you´re a private investigator. Please, I need your help. I don´t know where else to go. It´s about my aunt, she´s in big trouble. You have to help me find her. Lord Bane?”, she asked insecure as she noticed the expression on his face, “Are you okay? Will you help me?”  
Magnus wanted to answer her, really. He wanted to say something. Anything. But he wasn´t able to form a full sentence. Hell, he wasn´t even able to form a thought that was longer than two words. His head was empty, his heart racing and his breath became heavier and faster again.  
He was only able to breath out one word, one name, as he stared into the brown-grey eyes of the girl with the brown curls that stood in front of him, pleading for his help.  
She looked so different, and yet she was so familiar to him.  
“Tessa.” 

To be continued...


End file.
